An Instagram Influencer From Vancouver Shares Tips On How To 'Be Happy In The Body You Have'

An Instagram influencer from Vancouver is making waves for being vulnerable about body acceptance on social media.

Christine Larainee refers to herself as a mid-size influencer and puts a spotlight on beauty standards, insecurities, and mental health.

She speaks candidly about the reality of being a body-positive influencer, and her journey of self-acceptance. It seems like nothing is off-limits on her feed — in the best way possible.

Opening up the conversation about these topics is all part of her helping normalize what many others are experiencing on a daily basis.

Christine grew up in North Vancouver and, after going to university in Toronto, she moved back to her hometown where she takes advantage of the amazing hikes, ski hills, and mountain biking trails in the area.

Narcity sat down with Christine to talk about body acceptance and her experiences of being vulnerable on social media — the hate and all.

How she started

Looking at her Instagram now, with 42,200 followers, it's clear she is well on her way to influencing a ton of people. It all started with that first post though — which wasn't easy to do, she said.

About four years ago, Christine was at a point in her life where she wasn't feeling very comfortable in her own skin but still wanted to challenge herself by being vulnerable on Instagram.

"When I first started it I posted a photo, threw my phone away and started bawling my eyes out," Christine told Narcity.

It was obvious that she had come leaps and bounds from that first post though — totally owning her body and her posts.

A huge influence on her own body image was growing up as an athlete, and eventually playing soccer at a university level.

At a young age, she said that she started getting comments from coaches saying that she "needed to lose weight," which influenced her perception of her body.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Christine was able to take some time to process what she went through as a woman in soccer, and although she said that at first "it was awful," it ultimately led to acceptance.

Growing pains

Christine will talk a lot on Instagram about how her reasons for working out have drastically changed since her days as a university athlete.

When she first started working out after leaving soccer, she said it was a tough transition.

"I started to despise exercising. I started to hate going to the gym. I hated weight lifting. I didn't want to step on a field," she said.

Before leaving soccer she said working out was all about how many calories she would burn, and it took some time to rework that mindset.

After a break, her body started to "crave" working out, she said. The kind of workouts were much different though, focused more on movement.

Now you can find Christine listening to what her body needs, and doing things like long walks, swimming, or a quick yoga video.

Her biggest takeaway? You don't actually have to work out if you don't feel like it.

Social media and body acceptance

It's easy to tell yourself it's okay to skip a workout — but looking at Instagram #fitspo makes it a whole lot harder.

Christine said that being in the body acceptance space on social media isn't always positive.

"I know a lot of the influencers that I follow or connect with, who are in the same realm as me, have basically seen their photos taken and used as before and after photos are weight loss," she said.

In reality, the two photos are usually taken days — or minutes — apart from each other, and just show a person in different positions.

Christine said that this kind of thing makes it hard to decipher what's real on your feed.

One of the most damaging things Christine has seen on social media is the "challenges," she said.

"Someone wraps their fingers around their wrists, or there was one where people tied their pants really tight and their waist was incredibly skinny," said Christine.

"Seeing those kinds of videos where you're forcing someone to think that they're different or less — that's pretty triggering," she added.

On a personal level, she has seen some negativity come her way on social media. Christine had one of her photos shared on a popular clothing brand's — Gymshark — Instagram page, with over five million followers.

"Basically my Instagram account was attacked. I got hundreds of messages from men saying that I should lose weight, that I should put the fork down," she said.

She added that on top of those messages, she had people saying she didn't "deserve" to be posted on the account, because of her body type.

It was a wake-up call for Christine, having to face the harsh reality of what's out there on social media.

Advice for others

Although there's a lot of negative content out there, influencers like Christine are mixing in some positivity.

"It's just recognizing that the word 'normal' has no real definition," said Christine.

She added that social media can be a great way to connect with others who are feeling the same things, as long as you avoid the more negative aspects.

Her biggest tips were to unfollow anyone who makes you feel bad — whoever they are — journaling, meditating, and practicing gratitude.

By going inwards, she said, you can "try to learn how to love yourself."

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.